Weekend Premier League Round Up: Arsene Wenger's Sins of a Genius

By Jack Hussey / September 20, 2011

What better place to start this week than at the beginning? Kind of like Genesis, nothing to do with Phil Collins mind, I refer to that story of God creating the world in seven days. I'm not here for theological debate mind you, despite being told I am quite the pub philosopher. Following a similar tack to Genesis, with Arsene Wenger assuming the role of God, the Frenchman plucked Arsenal from the doldrums of Bruce Rioch. Light from where there was once only dark, creating stars from nothing and so on and so forth. The simile would be even more fitting if Genesis then detailed God's master plan of removing the stars and replacing them with eco-friendly, energy saving light bulbs, a result of the seventh day resting on transfer deadline day. Why one would only be able to purchase light bulbs during the transfer window I don't know, but stay with me people. €œOh Father, forgive me for I question thine judgement divine, I'm just not sure those shine as brightly€ said John unto the Lord. €œThou just missed a massive snake give some naked bloke an apple.€ €œI did not see the incident€ declared the lord almighty. Watching the decline of a man considered by many, as one of the key figures responsible for changing football in England, makes for uncomfortable viewing. Regardless of allegiance, it takes a stubborn soul not to admit to the genius of Arsene Wenger. When training ground canteens were still serving up meals that would have Tom Huddlestone giddier than a ball boy whom accidentally happens to pick up Sir Alex's 'Lucozade' flask, Arsene Wenger was compiling diet plans and nutritional charts. Building a team of athletes has always been one of the corner stones of Wenger's philosophy, closely coinciding with a stringent focus upon youth development. For so long it was all going so well, with league wins and cups a plenty, but it appears that the wheels are finally coming off. This weekend saw Arsenal travel to Ewood Park to play another fallen giant of the Premiership era in Blackburn Rovers. It seems like another portion of space and time now in which the Lancastrian club lifted the title, but if anything, their dramatic fall from grace goes to illustrate what can happen to even those at the top. With more pressure on either manager than on Rik Waller's belt buckle, the match was all set to be a dogged, highly tense affair. Twice the Gunners led Rovers, Gervinho scoring his first competitive goal for the club in his first league appearance since being sent off on the opening day. The Ivorian applied the finish to a neat through ball from Alex Song. Mikel Arteta then made his mark, another first, belting home an Aaron Ramsey lay off just before half time. Welshman Ramsey, was one of the bright sparks in the otherwise miserable afternoon that lay in wait for the red half of North London. The plucky Junior Hoilett ran at the Arsenal defence with real menace, threading an exquisite pass through to Yakubu who in turn cleverly diverted the ball past the oncoming Szczesny for Blackburn's first. Rover's equaliser followed shortly into the second half as Alex Song knocked a Ruben Rochina corner past his own keeper, with a third not following far behind. Steven N'zonzi with the cross whipped across the ground was met by Yakubu to net a real poachers goal. Some debate arose from Yakubu's positioning, whether he was offside or not. Replays haven't proved particularly conclusive with there being literally centimetres in it. Not enough to mask Arsenal's woefully inept marking in and around the box. Blackburn weren't finished there though as Martin Olsson, bounding down the right, whipped in a cross only to see the ball again tapped into the net for an own goal by another Arsenal player. Laurent Koscielny's obviously not wanting Alex Song to feel embarrassed and all alone. Arsenal ensured that it was an uncomfortable finish for Blackburn as the oft ineffective Chamakh nodded home a cross from Robin Van Persie. But the Rovers hung on to claim their first three points of the season. Steve Kean delighted, Arsene Wenger deflated. Has the time come for the North London outfit to sever ties with their legendary manager before he soils his name for good? This is looking ever more the case with each game they play. Assistant Pat Rice claimed that they had this week €œturned a corner€, however it appears that they've turned that corner and stepped into a steaming heap of dog dirt. Two of the Premier League's still unbeaten teams, Aston Villa and Newcastle, continued their respectively impressive early season form by not losing, again. Drawing 1-1 at Villa Park isn't a terrible result for either side. Alex McLeish's side took the initiative with Barry Bannan making space for himself and picking out Gabriel Agbonlahor, who needed two attempts in order to see the ball cross the line. New boy Yohann Cabaye was a threat throughout and should have scored after Leon Best set him up, only for the Frenchman to fire wide. He later forced a wonder save from Shay Given after slapping a rasping volley from the edge of the area goalward. Darren Bent appears to be reclaiming his old Tottenham form as topsy turvy striker missed an absolute sitter to double Villa's lead. Bent side footed wide from no more than six yards out with another chance that 'arry's missus would no doubt have converted. Villa were made to pay the price for Bent's miss as Leon Best converted a fine pass from Cheik Tiote for his third goal of the season. Given saving the initial header wasn't enough as Best tapped home the deflection to send the Magpies back North with a point. Meanwhile at the Reebok Stadium, Delia's Destroyers were serving up a dish of mediocre pie. Luckily for them, Bolton Wanderers could only muster bollocks on toast, handing the Canaries their first three points of the season. Goals from Anthony Pilkington and Bradley Johnson, no I don't know who they are either, came before half time. This was just as well as Bolton came out for the second half drastically improved. Ivan Klasnic managed to get himself sent off to halt any real hopes of a Bolton fightback even despite Martin Petrov clawing one back for the Trotters from the penalty spot. With both sides suffering heavy defeats last week, the game was a drab, unambitious affair. Despite this, Norwich gained an impressive win and will hope that this result will see them put together a decent run of the results from here on in. Good luck with that... Louis Saha was Traped by a 14 year old girl, proclaiming, €œI'm not good enough€ on the social networking site Twitter before his side Everton welcomed Wigan Athletic to Goodison Park. The perennially injured Frenchman was left out of the squad entirely, in a move that will be seen as surprising by many. Everton didn't need his help to score goals though as they settled a few nerves with a solid 3-1 win over the Latics. Argentinian sensation Franco Di Santo continued his goal scoring form with the opener for the away side. Lashing a shot that took a meaty deflection to see it fly past a hapless Tim Howard, somewhat against the run of play. The Toffees didn't take long to respond, less than two minutes to be precise, after a Tim Cahill header struck the bar only to be turned in by Phil Jagielka. Just at the match appeared to be heading for a draw, when up stood household name Apostolos Vellios to nod home Everton's second and send the crowd into raptures. Then minutes later they added a third as Royston 'oh God what am I doing here' Drenthe capitalised on a flick from Denis Stracqualursi (erm?). New look Q.P.R. recorded a magnificent away result beating Wolvehampton Wanderers 3-0. The season, which started so well for Wolves, appears to be crashing to a halt at the road sign marked 'realism'. Captain, Twitter hero and all round divisive character Joey Barton opened the scoring with a scuffed shot bobbling into the net at Molineux. The lairy midfielder was involved in a tussle all afternoon with Wolves anchor man Karl Henry. Barton after the match, rather amusingly described Henry as a 'pub footballer.' Just two minutes later and the Hoops lead had been doubled. Alejandro Faurlin had the composure to take the ball down on his chest before lashing a volley from 20 yards into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. Wolves were shell shocked and Rangers were in complete control. Fluent in possession with crisp, neat interplay, Q.P.R. fans will be delighted by how quickly their new signings appear to have settled and gelled into a unit. Most remarkable are the performances of Shaun Wright-Phillips, demonstrating why he was once considered part of the future of English football. (Cue some joke about being an over rated let down) DJ Campbell put the cherry on top for the visitors, adding their third after being set up by former Arsenal man Armand Traore. Neil Warnock's boys will undoubtedly stay in the Premier League if they can keep up this level of performance in every game. Sunday's first game saw Liverpool travel to White Hart Lane for an interesting tie against Spurs. With Arsenal faltering, fourth place looks up for grabs this year and the two teams on show both expect to be in and amongst the fight for the coveted Champions League spot. If this afternoon was anything to go by, Tottenham should walk qualification. Despite a baptism of fire to start the season, being hammered by both sides of Manchester, Spurs appear to have been galvanised by the signings of Emmanuel Adebayor and Scott Parker. The Lilywhites were rampant beating the once mighty Liverpool 4-0. From the word go Tottenham appeared to have more shape, urgency and fluidity in their general play. Wantaway midfielder Luka Modric appears to have put the toys back in the pram for now turning in what can only be described as a world class performance. The Croatian schemer was at the heart of nearly every attack for Tottenham, spraying balls in all directions of the pitch with deadly weight and accuracy. He even opened the scoring with a rocket shot into the top right hand corner of the goal from 25 yards. Despite all that has been said about his relationship with the club and fans, it was clear to see from his reaction that he was happy, even if just for that moment. It seemed that it was an afternoon to let bygones be bygones as former figure of hate Emmanuel Adebayor also chipped in with two goals. The arrival of the Togolese striker looks like the missing piece of the puzzle for Tottenham, providing them with the vision and positional awareness that their strikers last season lacked. Not only was he happy to net twice, he put in an all round tireless performance, tracking back and making life hard for the Liverpool players. Scott Parker looks superb alongside Luka Modric, I genuinely wouldn't be surprised to see the pair of them buy little heart necklaces each with one half of the same heart, I'd be a bit surprised in fairness. The England midfielder with the hair, build and playing style straight out of the 1950's has hit the ground running at Tottenham and gives them much needed strength and a calming, assured presence in midfield allowing Modric the freedom to thread the forward play together. Tottenham were linked with Charlie Adam, but if this match was anything to go by they'll be happy they ended up with Parker. The Scotsman, who was in poor form last week, again looked sloppy and lacked composure. Sent off for two silly challenges, he failed to gain a foot hold on the match in the same way that he did when he last visited White Hart Lane in a Blackpool shirt. The former Rangers man wasn't the only Liverpool player to see red as Martin Skrtel was also sent from the field following a torrid time at the hands of Gareth Bale. Manager Kenny Dalglish after the match was gracious in defeat, lauding Tottenham as 'brilliant' and 'the better side'. In the race for fourth place, now resembling a fat camp egg and spoon race, Tottenham appear to be waddling out ahead so far. Fulham later proved that they were better than Tottenham however, drawing 2-2 at home to Man City where Tottenham lost 1-5. Martin Jol's Cottagers showed incredible fight to claw back into a fixture that looked dead at half time. City relentlessly attacked the Fulham goal, allowing the home side little time or space on the ball when not in possession. The deadlock was broken by the prolific Sergio Aguero beating Mark Schwarzer after the equally impressive David Silva put him through on goal. The Argentinan once again started in place of his fellow countryman Carlos Tevez, and rewarded the manager's faith as he scored a second goal shortly into the first half. City came out of the blocks with Aguero firing home low from distance. Fulham struck back with a neat finish from Bobby Zamora. The player once heralded as 'potentially England's best ever striker', during his prolific days at Brighton and Hove Albion, now more commonly known as 'average' does have a knack of scoring important goals, and continued that tradition here. Zamora's goal gave Fulham the boost they needed to press on and begin to dominate a surprisingly lacklustre and standoffish City. Roberto Mancini removed David Silva and with him went City's cohesion, firing like a bow and arrow without string. Fulham's comeback was complete as Danny Murphy burst into the box and scored after his shot took a wicked deflection to divert it past Joe Hart. Fulham rejoice and City are left kicking their heels. Although they can't be expected to win every single game, the most alarming thing about the Manchester City performance was the way in which they appeared happy to sit back in the second half, a misplaced arrogance perhaps. Whatever it is, they can't afford to let it get the better of them too often if they truly expect to win the league. In the battle of the barbershop, Sunderland wiped the floor with Stoke City to win their first three points of the season. The visitors to the Stadium of Light were smacked down to earth after last week's defeat of Liverpool by being on the receiving end of a 4-0 loss. Titus Bramble gave the Black Cats the lead after just five minutes as he ran towards something shiny the he noticed in the crowd, the ball taking a lucky deflection off of his cumbersome figure. When asked for comment after the match Bramble said €œme done good€, he then started clapping and jumping on the spot. Jonathan Woodgate then scored an own goal to put Sunderland two clear, Stoke are still awaiting results from specialists to see how many seasons his injured pride will keep him out of action for. It was dream land for Sunderland as Craig Gardner's pot shot took a deflection to see them three up in under half an hour. Stoke who have been the subject of much praise for their defensive strength, were not showing that same grit today. Whether or not Stoke's midweek European exploits had anything to do with the performance will become clear as the season unfolds, but Stoke were not at the races today and Sunderland slapped in a fourth courtesy of a sublime Sebastian Larsson free kick. Sunday's main event saw Chelsea travel to Old Trafford to take on the impressive Manchester United. But the boys from the Bridge were no match for the reigning champions after a rampant first half display from the Red Devils. Maintaining their 100% start to the season, in which they've now scored a record 21 goals in their opening five games, the league is already starting to look like a race for second place behind Sir Alex's men. Chris Smalling, Nani and the born again Wayne Rooney were all on the scoresheet today. Smalling's fantastic header opened the scoring before Nani's wonderful run and thunderbolt shot rattled the net for United's second. Chelsea struggled to cope with United's movement and didn't manage to get a grip on the game to impose any of their own attacking strength. Phil Jones' rise to the top continued with another impressive all round display, a run worthy of Cristiano Ronaldo through the Chelsea half ended in a lay off to Wayne Rooney who made it three to the home side. It wasn't all cheer for the hairy egg however as his comical second half penalty miss left him, literally, flat on his arse. Fernando Torres who was lively for a lot of the game, still seems to be struggling in front of goal. Lacking the final tweak of composure that he once had, he managed to claw one back for the visitors with a clever dink over the top of De Gea. What was to come however, was one of the worst misses in Premier League history. In what would be deemed 'too predictable' if written as a work of fiction, Torres did the hard job of running through the United defence and rounding the keeper, only to blaze wide with the gaping open goal at his mercy. If rumours are to be believed, Chelsea are set to let the Spaniard leave on loan in order to regain confidence which looks to be clearly lacking now. Chelsea weren't terrible in this fixture, it just so happens that United were so very good. Frighteningly good in fact. Europe beware. Leaving it until last, I wanted to make special note of Swansea City. Not to be too maudlin in sentiment, but it's important to remember the old adage that some things in life are bigger than football. The tragic circumstances in which the Swansea miners lost their lives is not something that need be detailed in a football match report, but an acknowledgement of loss is meant as a mark of respect, and gives further credence to the importance of Swansea's win for the community. I've been the first to deride the Swan's lack of demonstrable ability this term, but they were in fine form on Saturday afternoon announcing themselves to the rest of the top flight with a solid 3-0 win over the inconsistent West Brom. Swansea took the lead from a penalty after the lively Joe Allen was clattered by Paul Scharner, Scott Sinclair stepping up to convert Swansea's first ever Premiership goal. The goal gave West Brom added impetus, but the fight back was short lived. Leroy Lita nodded home a second from a corner before turning provider for Nathan Dyer to add the Swan's third. Swansea will be concerned by a head injury to Neil Taylor following a collision with Peter Odemwingie, which in turn created nine minutes of injury time, but the defender should be back in time for the next fixture. Whether or not the tragedy in Wales gave the Swansea squad the added drive to turn around their thus far terrible season, can't be said for certain, but regardless of this the win has come at a good time for the people of Swansea. Winning a football match isn't going to take away the pain felt by those affected, but during this troublesome period, reason to cheer is always something that should be welcomed. Follow me @tehTrunk Catch me on http://www.thefightingcock.co.uk €“ a weekly football podcast made by Spurs fans, with football fans in general in mind.